INERATEC

What they do

INERATEC designs and operates chemical plants that combine carbon dioxide and hydrogen into synthetic crude oil, which is then refined into e-SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), e-diesel, waxes and base chemicals. The company was founded on 20 May 2016 by Tim Böltken, Philipp Engelkamp, Paolo Piermartini and Peter Pfeifer as a spin-off of the Institute for Micro Process Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Its core idea was to shrink processes such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, methanol synthesis and methanation, normally run in giant refineries, into compact modules that fit in a standard shipping container.

Why it matters

Aviation has few practical routes to lower emissions, and EU rules under ReFuelEU Aviation now require rising shares of synthetic fuel. In June 2025 INERATEC inaugurated ERA ONE at the Frankfurt-Höchst industrial park, with capacity for up to 2,500 tonnes of e-fuels a year and around 8,000 tonnes of CO2 recycled annually. The plant is notable for its feedstock: the CO2 comes from a biogas plant that processes waste, and the hydrogen is a by-product of chlorine production on the same site. That is industrial symbiosis rather than a greenfield experiment.

Products to know

• ERA ONE: the Frankfurt pioneer plant, built from production modules delivered from 2023 onwards. See our product profile.
• Modular power-to-liquid and power-to-gas units: earlier customer plants went to Finland (2016), Spain (2018), Werlte in northern Germany and Hamburg.

The German angle

INERATEC is a textbook example of the Helmholtz research-to-company route. KIT took a stake at seed stage in 2018 alongside High-Tech Gründerfonds, the federal seed fund. The company then attracted a Series B in January 2024 that it announced at over 129 million US dollars (118 million euros in German reporting), led by Piva Capital with corporates including Honda, Safran and ENGIE. In 2025 it added a 70 million euro package of European Investment Bank venture debt and a Breakthrough Energy Catalyst grant for ERA ONE. The open question for investors is scale: 2,500 tonnes a year is significant for a first plant but small against aviation demand, and the company has said it plans to multiply output by 2030 through modular expansion.

Sources

• INERATEC: From idea to market
• KIT: Second chance for greenhouse gases
• Chemical Engineering: Ineratec begins production